The Parodical Returns
by Otpshipqueen
Summary: Bellamy and Clarke hear a scream in the woods and who they find will more than likely change their lives forever.


The Parodical Returns

They were out on a routine hunting trip. Bellamy, Clarke, Murphy &amp; a guard.

"We should be on our way to Mt Weather." Bellamy said ruefully.

"We would be no good to our people half starved." Clarke says matter-of-factly, but she shoots him a meaningful look and his hard gaze surrenders to her soft one, because he knows that she's right, but he hated the idea of his people locked up like that.

"Guys, this way I think I see something." The guard called quietly as not to scare what ever it was they were stalking, off. The three of them approached the guards position and sure enough there was a wild boar grazing in a small clearing.

"This ones _mine._" Murphy says darkly from behind Bellamy and Clarke. He pushed his way past them all and took aim. But, before he could shoot and claim his prize, a scream rang out through the woods, throwing him off and causing the boar to flee. Bellamy and Clarke eyes both widened as their heads snapped toward each other. The were both white as sheets. They knew who that scream belonged to…but it couldn't be. Murphy was to angry to notice.

"You both look like you've just seen a ghost." The guard said almost comically.

"More like heard.." Bellamy said obviously still shaken and Clarke absentmindedly nodded then added

"And I think we just did." She looked at Bellamy with a question in her eyes and he knew what she was asking. So momentarily forgetting the other two men he gripped hold of Clarke's wrist and the two of them went tearing off into the wood in search of the source of the scream.

XXX

"BLAKE! GRIFFIN!" The guard called after them, but they were already too far gone to hear, or care for that matter. Murphy, finally done with his tantrum walked over and assessed the situation.

"They take off?" He asked dumbly

"Yeah, out of the blue just started running together…didn't even say a word to each other they just took off.." The guard tells him briefly pointing in the direction they went, obviously still confused.

"Yeah." Murphy says with a smirk "They've got this way of communicating without words. Its all looks and touches with them. You'd think they were either family or lovers, but they're neither." The guard looks up like this is news to him.

"I just assumed.." Murphy cut him off

"That they were a couple? Nah. She was with Finn." At that the guards eyes widened.

"The boy she killed? he asked dumbfounded

"Welcome to Earth." He deadpanned, and walked in the direction the guard had pointed in.

XXX

"Do you think it was really her?" Clarke asked him, she was a bit out of breath from running but the hopefulness was still recognizable in her voice. Bellamy looked at her with an expression that mirrored how she felt. One less person they had gotten killed, one less soul weighing them down.

"I don't know Clarke, I don't know.." His voice faded out as he thought. And then there is was again, the screaming.. the terrified screaming they had both heard numerous times before.

They both again took off in the general direction of the screaming and this time stumbled upon a small grounder girl getting cornered by a beast, small dagger in hand swiping futilely at it when it came a bit too close, she had scratch marks running the side of her face and down her arms, her shirt was also ripped, but the fabric hid any damage from Clarke's accessing eyes. The girl hadn't seen them yet and the huge beast like cat, easily twice the size of the one that had attacked Bellamy, now had her pinned to a tree and was charging to make the final blow to end her little life, but Bellamy quickly sprung into action and shot it down mid air narrowly saving the girls life. Another round of screams erupted from her throat as the shots that brought her attacker down rang through the trees. We stepped out and instead of looking fearful she stopped screaming, pealed herself off of the tree and slowly, cautiously as if she were afraid we'd disappear, walked toward us.

"Bellamy..Clarke.." She said tearfully. "I—I thought I'd never see you again." She was crying now, and not only that, she was running to them. She ran at full speed and flung her arms around them both, resting her head between them. Clarke let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding in and with the breath came a sob, as she and bellamy sunk to the ground to hug their little girl properly. Well, she wasn't theirs per-say but she might as well have been, they were the closest thing she had to parents.

"Charlotte," Bellamy breathed tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, as he wrapped one arm around the tiny little girl and one around Clarke. Clarke did the same all the while grasping the back of her head and sobbing into her hair,

"I thought you were dead.. I thought you died that night." Clarke thought back to the night. She remembered the pain of losing Wells and the awful things she had said to her out of anger. She wasn't angry anymore. Of course she still missed Wells, it still hurt, but Clarke stopped being the innocent by stander who got to judge, when she killed the grounder who was left to guard her in cold blood. He could have had a wife, children. Charlotte had killed wells and hurt a father and a friend, She had potentially destroyed an entire family, children would grow up without a father. Thoughts like these plagued her daily, but she never revealed them to anyone, they were her own inner battle she had to fight alone. But they did help her forgive Charlotte, they were all guilty of horrors.

XXX

There was that scream again, the guard thought.

"What is that..?" He asked Murphy

"Well, I know what it sounds like." He says "But that bitch is dead." He says snidely, but there is a slight hint of remorse there. Everyone feels the weight of guilt, even someone like John Murphy.

The screams stop, start up again and them abruptly cut off. Either they were dead, or…

"Look at that.." The guard said warmly, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. The scene in front of them was one neither had been expecting, Clarke and Bellamy were kneeling on the forest floor clutching a small girl, and each other, like their lives depended on it. Both had tears in their eyes, although, Bellamy was much better at hiding it. Clarke was sobbing into the little girls hair and speaking words they couldn't hear.

"They look like a reunited family." The guard says wistfully, clearly longing for his own reunion. His wife had gotten stuck on another station, and his daughter was in Mt Weather, Murphy knew that much.

"They are." Murphy said coldly and then walking into the clearing to break up the party, leaving the guard wishing he would stop being so cryptic and then taking off.

XXX

"I almost did." Charlotte said in reply to Clarke. "But the grounders found me and brought be back to there camp, they had no idea who I was until I came to and started asking for you. The assumed I was your daughter, and all of a sudden the whole situation changed, the dragged me, bloody and broken in front of their Commander saying that they had captured the leader of the sky people's daughter and they thought she should hold me for ransom, to get you to leave. But the commander told them it was pointless, because if you had left me for dead, then why would you care if what they did to me? She said I was just a child and there would be no harm in excepting me into their community and they reluctantly agreed and took me back to their village and healed my wounds. They allowed me to live and I wasn't a prisoner, but they never excepted me. I was hated by most and shunned by almost all. They viewed me as the abandoned princess of the sky people. The girl her parents didn't even want. I never told them the truth because as awful as it was there I knew it would be worse if they knew—" She was cut off by Murphy,

"Well isn't this sweet." He said feigning sentiment. Bellamy was up in a second shielding Charlotte and Clarke from his traitorous gaze. Clarke gripped Charlotte tighter than ever, as she whimpered in fear at the sight of Murphy, and he caught on to her fear almost as if he could smell it.

"Oh," He said his voice softening to a tone of fake reassurance. "Don't worried," He broke his gaze away from Charlotte and focusing on Bellamy his face hard again, "I wont try and hurt her this time." He all but sneered. "No matter what she deserves." He muttered. He took a step forward and Bellamy, who obviously hadn't believed he mean't his speech, stepped in front of him again, hand on his half raised gun, protecting his makeshift 'family'.

"Woah!" Murphy says with his hands up in surrender, "I told you, I'm not gonna try anything. Bitch's not worth it anyway." This lands him a firm punch to the jaw. Clarke groans and rolls her eyes. He never did know when to keep him mouth shut. He got up from the ground clutching his jaw, with a strange half smile on his face. All the while the guard just stood and gaped at the entirety of the situation, he looked completely confused and shocked by both the exchange between Bellamy and Murphy and the young girl wrapped in Clarke's arms.

"Who's this?" He asked

"This, is Charlotte." Clarke said helping the little girl up from the ground, careful of her wounds.

"She's the youngest of the 100, we thought she was dead until now." Bellamy informed him, still not taking his eyes off Murphy. The guard nodded, still look questioningly between Bellamy, Murphy, and Charlotte.

"But, what about—" He started his question.

"Murphy doesn't have a thing for kids." Clarke said in answer, giving Murphy more credit than he deserved. The guard wasn't an idiot though and he knew they weren't telling him something, but he was smart enough to not press it.

"Well, not everyone is wired with a parental gene." The guard says with a slight laugh in an attempt to lighten the mood. When he got no takers, except for a small smile from Charlotte he cleared his throat and declared it was time to head back. Bellamy pointed out the dead animal across the clearing and told them to get it back to camp and they would worry about Charlotte. The guard said a small good bye to her and then after gathering the animal, were gone. It was just the three of them again and none of them were complaining. Clarke turned to Charlotte with a small laugh,

"You look like a grounder.." Charlotte laughed a bit at this

"Yeah, well, to live with them, they want you to look like them," Charlotte's face fell "..act like them too." seeing the look on her face Clarke placed an arm around her and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Bellamy gave her a small knowing smile.

"Whatever you did or whatever they made you do, it's all behind you now. You have us now." Bellamy looked up at Clarke who was already smiling at him warmly.

"Come on," she says, breaking her gaze at Bellamy. "There's a river not too far from here, lets get you cleaned up." Charlotte nods and slips her hand into Clarke's as they start walking. Bellamy places his hand briefly on the small of Clarke's back before going ahead of them, one hand on his gun at all times.

They reached the river in no time. Bellamy goes to secure the perimeter to give the two girls some privacy to clean up. They both strip down to their underwear and wade into the cold, but refreshing water.

"Here, let me take those braids out so we can wash your hair." Clarke says beaconing her. Charlotte comes over and stands in front of her as Clarke goes to work on her hair, the grounders were surprisingly skilled when it came to hair. As she undid them, Clarke tried as best she could to figure out how they were done and how to recreate them later.

"I never told you I was sorry." Charlotte said sadly, her voice small and full of regret. Clarke knew what she was talking about.

I forgave you a while ago. This place…it changed us. Made us into people we aren't. We've all done things." Charlotte nods and swipes at her face, and Clarke guesses this is to get rid of the tears that stain her cheeks.

"You remind me of her a lot, right now especially." Charlotte said with a hint of a smile in her voice.

"Who?" Clarke asked

"My mother," she paused, thinking for a moment. "You two remind me of both of them. They used to fight a lot, but there was never much anger behind their words. You could always tell they loved each other so much, more then either of the even knew, but I knew, I saw it every single day. They loved each other more than they loved me in the end I think." Clarke tried to process what Charlotte had just implied.. sure she loved Bellamy, he was her closest and most trusted friend.. but did it run deeper than that? Did she _love _ him? Could she? She didn't know. So soon after Finn and with everything going on with Mt. Weather it seemed impossible. But, Charlotte coming back proved nothing was truly impossible..

"I'm sure they loved you very much." Clarke said suddenly thinking about her own father.

"Are you two finished yet?" Bellamy called from somewhere beyond the tree line.

"Just about." Clarke called back. They quickly finished in the water then dried themselves, got dressed and went to find Bellamy again.

When they finally saw him Charlotte ran to him and wrapped her arms around him again and he did the same, lifting her off the ground a bit. And Clarke couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you." She said to him and he looked at her with a questioning smile

"For what?"

"Just.. everything." She said holding him a little tighter and he shot Clarke a look that said 'Do you know what she's talking about?' But it also said he was happy. She simply nodded with a smile. When they finally broke apart, they were on their way.

"I've made a decision." Bellamy announced after they'd been walking awhile. Clarke shot him an expectant look.

"We aren't telling your mother, Jaha, and Kane that it was Charlotte who killed Wells. They don't need to know." He said it very finally as if he expected Clarke to try and fight him, but she agreed with him.

"Okay, your right. Jaha will only hold it against her and there's no need for that." He nodded

"Good. I'm glad were on the same page." I nod. I look between Charlotte and Bellamy, walking hand in hand. There were so many things to think about, like, where would she live?

"Bellamy, where is she going to live?" I asked

"With us." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world and it was, it just wasn't that simple.

"We both have small tents, only made for one person.." At this Bellamy looked thoughtful.

"I wish we could all just live in the dropship like before." Charlotte said sadly. And gave both of them an idea.

"I'm sure there are some empty quarters in the Ark.." Clarke said. Bellamy nodded.

"I saw a space just yesterday that would be big enough for the two of you." Charlottes face fell.

"What is it?" Clarke asked her, her voice taking a concerned tone.

"I just—" She looked at the ground. They both looked at her expectantly. "I just thought we would all live together now." She said so quickly it all came out in one drawled out breath. Bellamy and Clarke look at each other both not knowing what to say to her. What was the big deal, them living together? Clarke shifted her eyes to the ground, lost in thought. They've spent the night in the woods next to each other all the time. This somehow seemed different. Clarke wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but when she looked up she saw Charlotte, staring right at Bellamy with big blue pleading eyes and she knew it was all over.

"Of course we can.." Bellamy said giving in. Clarke chuckled to herself, who knew Bellamy Blake was a sucker for the puppy dog face…she'd have to remember that. Clarke looked between them and then nodded. Charlotte looked thrilled and once more threw her arms around them, this kid was a hugger.

When they had finally gotten back to camp, it had been almost nightfall. They had tried to get Charlotte to wait until the next day for them to find their new home in the station, but, Charlotte had insisted they all get moved that night. They didn't have much between them so it hadn't taken long. Finally they had their new quarters and it was oddly comforting to be surrounded by actual walls instead of tent material. I was a two bedroom place, with a small kitchen that was pretty much useless now, a living room that had one couch and a broken table they could decide what to do with later. They'd given Charlotte one of the rooms and decided to alternate who slept in the other bed each night, this had been Bellamy's idea.

"Are you going to be okay?" Clarke asked as she tucked Charlotte in.

"Yes, the nightmares haven't been a frequent as before." She said in a sleepy voice.

"Good." Clarke said with a smile. she finished tucking her in then kissed her forehead and told her goodnight.

She found Bellamy sitting on the couch and exhaustedly plopped down next to him.

"She asleep?" He asked.

"Soon to be." Clarke replied

"Good…good." Small talk had never been either of their thing, so the conversation drifted into a comfortable silence.

"This changes everything." Clarke says after awhile, and Bellamy turns his head enough to give her a quizzical look.

"What do you mean?" He asks. Clarke steeled herself.. she didn't know how he would take this.

"We're not going to Mt Weather." She said as finally as she could manage with the grogginess dripping from her every word. This made him completely turn and face her. He was gearing up for a fight, she could tell. Clarke turned on the couch to face him too and quickly clapped a hand over his mouth when he opened it, prepared to yell, and nodded her head in the direction of Charlottes room where she was _finally_ asleep. He nodded and she removed her hand.

"Clarke.." He said in a soft but warning tone. " What the _hell _ are you talking about?" She took a deep breath.

"Bellamy, we can't leave Charlotte..not again." His eye brows shot up.

"Again? Clarke, she jumped off a damn cliff!" He said, his voice starting to raise a bit.

"She doesn't see it that way.. the grounders told her over and over again that she was just a cast off from her parents, they left her for dead, they didn't want her."

"You do remember that _we_," he gestured between them "are not her real parents right?" He chuckled, as if the very idea of having a child with her was the most preposterous thing he had ever heard. It offended her a bit. But, she took a deep breath, swallowed the '_what is that supposed to mean'_ that threatened to come flooding out, and said instead,

"Well,_ I _ know that and _you _ know that but…" she took a moment to peak her head around the corner to make sure Charlotte was fast asleep. She also precautionarily lowered her voice. "But, I'm not sure _she_ knows that anymore.."

"I'm not sure…" Bellamy was shaking his head and she wasn't sure if it was out of confusion or that fact that he was definitely not ready to be a dad. She _was _ sure however that if he wasn't already sitting he would sit down.

"After spending almost two months in the grounder village, with the people assuming that we were her parents, I guess she just started believing it too." His face was contorted and his eyes were unfocused.. he was trying to process.

"I don't know anything about being a father.. this will be easy on you, you had two parents who loved you and taught you… my father was never in the picture." Clarke shot him a look, his father was trying, anyone could see that.

"Now doesn't count. I'm grown." Clarke huffed out a small laugh and shot him another look and he just rolled his eyes.

"I don't know how to be a father, I wouldn't know where to begin.." Clarke 's gaze softened at his words and she scooted closer to him on the couch, smiling at him warmly because, he really didn't see it.

"Bellamy," she started, she was so close now and Bellamy was definitely, despite himself, aware of it. She moved her hands up to his arms for comfort. "You've been acting as a father for a very long time, and you don't even see it. First with Octavia, and then Charlotte, it's not something you have to learn..you just know. It's an instinct, you do great with her, and someday when you have you own kids you'll do great with them too." Clarke thought for a moment, and then added "Your mother would be extremely proud." Bellamy just stared at her, he didn't know what to say to any of that.

After awhile, Clarke announced that she was tired, and was going to bed. She got up from the couch and walked to her door, but she lingered there for a minute thinking. The bed was big enough for two, and they were mature adults.. so, why not?

"Bell?" She called out sleepily, he turned in surprise at the nickname Octavia had given him when she was young, Clarke had never called him that before. "The beds big enough for two, if you want.. I just feel weird leaving you out here on the dirty old couch.."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup." She said simply, she was so tired. She went into the room and peeled back the bed clothes and slipped inside, not long after Bellamy did the same, and as Clarke slipped away to sleep next to him, he couldn't help but wonder, if this was what family truly felt like.


End file.
